Lewis blood group antigens (a and b) in human breast tissues. Loss of lewis-b in breast cancer cells and correlation with tumor grade

✍ Scribed by Halliday A. Idikio; V. Manickavel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 716 KB
• Volume: 68
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19910915)68:6<1303::aid-cncr2820680620>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

The Lewis blood group antigens (Lewis-a [Lea] and Lewis-b [Leb]) and their precursors are present on various normal human epithelial cell surfaces. The authors examined 35 benign and malignant human breast lesions using mouse monoclonal antibodies to synthetic Lea and Leb carbohydrate antigens. Normal breast lobular and ductal epithelium and benign breast lesions showed Leb staining but only occasional Lea staining. In invasive ductal carcinomas of breast, of all grades, a loss of Leb antigen staining was found in 80% of the breast cancer cases. This reduced Leb antigen expression increased with the grade of malignancy. Therefore, the loss of Leb blood group antigens on breast cancer cell surfaces may suggest altered fucosylation patterns in malignant cells and reflect the degree of malignancy and/or invasiveness. Cancer 68:1303-1308,1991.

REAST CANCER is the most common malignancy in B women in North America and Europe. Its behavior depends on the clinical stage of the tumor and the expression of several markers and steroid hormone receptors.'-2 There is growing interest in devising markers for evaluating node-negative breast cancer to improve s ~r v i v a l . ~ To better the assessment of survival, other markers derived from mucin molecules including so-called differentiation antigens and glycoproteins of human milk-fat globules (HMFG) are being s t ~d i e d . ~ Blood group antigens with types 1 or 2 structure are present on many epithelial surf a c e ~. ~

The precise function of the histoblood group antigens on epithelial surfaces are not known at this time.6 Several epithelial malignancies can alter the expression of blood group-related substances, including the Lewis group antigen^,',^ that may be correlated with tumor behavior. To our knowledge, no studies have examined the expression of the Lewis blood group antigens in benign